Sponge wringer mops characterized by mop head replacement mechanisms are well-known in the prior art.
An example of this type of wringer floor mop is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,727,259, issued to Frank G. Wilson, on Apr. 17, 1973. Wilson taught a wringer mop head replacement and actuator mechanism which included a pair of spaced-apart parallel wringer rollers which were carried at the lower end of a mop head housing. An operating crank was provided by a linkage rod extended upward from the mop head cartridge through the mop housing and through a hollow handle to a pivotable crank handle. The operating crank/rod detachably connected at its lower end to the mop head cartridge within the mop head housing by means of a cooperating snap latch carried by the mop head cartridge.
The crank handle was shiftable between an upper position and a detented center position in order to shift the operating crank up and down and thereby wring out the mop head cartridge by passing it between the wringer rollers. The crank handle was also shiftable to a down position to expel the mop head cartridge and the lower end of the operating crank/rod from the mop head housing and from between the wringer rollers. When the crank handle was in the down position, the snap latch connection was completely exposed to permit easy cartridge replacement. The mop head snap latch device was mounted in an inverted channel member which retained a sponge or other absorbent element by compression of a marginal edge of the sponge of the cartridge between the channel member walls. The center of the channel base had an upstanding tunnel formation into which an operating crank lower end transverse arm was slidably received. The transverse arm was held in a mated position with the tunnel formation by a shiftable latch plate which was biased resiliently upward by the sponge material to capture the hook arm.